Text Formatting Lost When Copying from Web Browser

[joemilnee]

I’m encountering an issue with LibreOffice Writer where text formatting is lost when copying content from a web browser, and I’m seeking assistance to resolve it.

Background: I often need to copy text from web pages into LibreOffice Writer for various projects and reports. However, I’ve noticed that when I copy text from a web browser (such as Firefox or Chrome) and paste it into Writer, the formatting (such as font style, size, and color) is not preserved, resulting in a plain text appearance.

Issue: The problem arises when I attempt to copy text that includes formatting elements such as bold, italics, hyperlinks, and bullet points. Despite the text appearing formatted correctly in the web browser, it loses all formatting upon pasting into LibreOffice Writer, requiring me to manually reapply formatting styles.

Troubleshooting: Here are the steps I’ve taken to troubleshoot the issue so far:

1. Checked the paste options in LibreOffice Writer to ensure that the “Keep Source Formatting” option is selected.
2. Experimented with different web browsers to see if the issue is specific to a particular browser.
3. Tried copying and pasting text from other sources (such as Microsoft Word documents or plain text files) to see if the problem persists.
4. Reviewed the LibreOffice documentation and community forums for any known issues or solutions related to copying and pasting formatted text.

Observations: Despite these efforts, the issue persists, and I’m unable to copy text with formatting intact from web browsers into LibreOffice Writer. This inconvenience disrupts my workflow and requires additional time and effort to manually reformat the text in Writer.

Request for Assistance: If anyone has encountered similar issues with copying and pasting formatted text from web browsers into LibreOffice Writer or has suggestions for troubleshooting steps or workarounds, I would greatly appreciate your insights. Preserving text formatting is essential for maintaining consistency and readability in my documents, and I’m eager to find a solution to this problem.

Thank you for your assistance and expertise!

[ajlittoz]

It is difficult to answer without minimal technical information: OS name, LO version and save format (though the latter is likely not a key factor here).

While waiting for that, some generic background. Data displayed in a browser is formatted with a combination of HTML (for the “data” part) and CSS for the detailed formatting. HTML and CSS are two “languages” very different from the internal Writer encoding called ODF. When you copy into the clipboard, most applications store at least two versions of the data: one copy in application-native format, one copy in plain text for minimal universal compatibility. In this case, we’ll have HTML+CSS and plain text. When this data is pasted, Writer chooses the “best” version from the clipboard. If alien and “exotic” formats are supported, i.e. there is an import filter to translate into ODF, this is fine. Otherwise, as a fallback, plain text is pasted.

In your case, I’d guess that not all import filters have been installed. However, don’t expect too much from these import filters. They rarely give a “perfect” result and many a user complains on this site about inconsistencies after the paste operation. Most of the time, advice is “paste as unformatted” and style raw data. I emphasised word style because Writer is based on style and it is quite fast and straightforward to apply styles. I remind you there are not only paragraph styles but also character styles which are often neglected because they don’t exist in Word. The latter styles are the one to use to apply bold, italic, … to an individual word. Of course, this requires to prepare your work by thinking deeply about its structure and significance in order to create the adequate minimum number of styles.

[joemilnee]

Thank you for your detailed response and insights into the potential technical reasons behind the issue I’m experiencing with copying and pasting formatted text from web browsers into LibreOffice Writer.

To provide the necessary technical information:

• OS: Windows 10
• LibreOffice version: 7.2.0.4
• Save format: Typically ODT (Open Document Text)

Your explanation regarding the differences between HTML/CSS formatting used in web browsers and the internal encoding of Writer (ODF) helps clarify why the formatting might not be preserved during the copy and paste process. It’s also helpful to understand the role of import filters in translating the copied content into the Writer format.

Given the limitations and potential inconsistencies of import filters, your suggestion to utilize styles within Writer makes sense as a workaround. Applying styles, especially character styles for specific formatting elements like bold or italic, can indeed streamline the process of reformatting the pasted text.

I appreciate your emphasis on the importance of structuring the document and using styles effectively to maintain consistency and readability. I’ll explore using character styles more extensively to apply formatting to individual words or phrases as needed.

Thank you once again for your assistance and guidance in addressing this issue.